2011 Fifty Pence, London Olympic Coins

An unprecedented 29 different commemorative 50p coins were issued for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (large numbers of other coin denominations were also made in connection with the games, I got to 67 in total and then lost count!). The initial official reported mintage numbers seem to have crept up over 2012 – 2013. The numbers shown are the current figures and will be updated if new data come to light.

Mintage for Circulation: 2,179,000 (a lot less for the error coin with lines on the face).

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 for the normal coin. 10 for the withdrawn coin with lines on the face.

The story behind the design:

The Aquatics coin, by Jonathan Olliffe shows a female swimmer in water. The Royal Mint sold all of the Olympic coins separately in sealed packs (they were also circulated normally). Some of the sealed individual packs contained a coin that was clearly not meant to have been sold and is now referred to as the ‘withdrawn’ or error Aquatics 50p with lines on the face of the swimmer (2nd images above). Later coins in packs and probably all of the coins that were circulated show a swimmer with hardly any lines on her face and with a reduced number of lines on her body (1st images above). The error coin is probably the most valuable coin that you could potentially find if you Check Your Change! Watch out for normal reverse coins that have had extra lines scratched into them to be passed off as the error coin.

WARNING: Fakes exist of the Aquatics withdrawn coin with the lines on the swimmer’s face. They seem to come from China and are quite convincing. On good quality fakes the Queen is more frosted, the ear and the eye are not well executed and the lettering is thinner.

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